World News - Prudential to Pay $600 Million to Settle Fund Trading Probes

Prudential Financial Inc., the second-largest U.S. life insurer, agreed to pay $600 million to settle investigations of improper mutual fund trading, said two people with knowledge of the accord. It will be the second- biggest penalty in the three-year-old industry probe. The U.S. Justice Department will enter into a so-called deferred prosecution agreement with Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential later today, said the people, who declined to be identified before an official announcement is made. Under deferred prosecution, a company agrees to change its business practices and prosecutors don't take the case to trial. ``The government has undoubtedly come upon evidence it perceives as damning and thinks it can get a conviction if it goes to trial, otherwise it wouldn't be putting a deferred prosecution alternative on the table,'' said Christopher Bebel, a former lawyer at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission who is now in private practice in Houston. ... http://www.bloomberg.com

Iraqi troops have fought battles with Shia militiamen in the southern town of Diwaniya, amid an upsurge in violence in which dozens of people have died. At least 19 soldiers were killed and more than 40 people were wounded in Diwaniya. Officials said some 40 gunmen from the Mehdi Army had also died. Government forces had lost control of parts of the city, officials said. In Baghdad, 11 people died when a suicide car bomber attacked a compound of the Iraqi interior ministry. A spokesman for the Diwaniya general hospital said 34 bodies had been brought in, including soldiers and seven civilians and two militiamen. Local leaders are quoted as saying the gunmen in Diwaniya have split from the from the Mehdi Army after rejecting a call from their radical leader to take part in Iraq's political peace process. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5293278.stm

A suicide car bombing today and clashes between Shia militia and Iraqi security forces have left up to 50 people dead.The deaths followed bombings and shootings yesterday in which more than 60 people were killed across the country, from the northern city of Kirkuk to the capital Baghdad and south to Basra.In the city of Diwaniyah, a Shia-dominated city 80 miles south of Baghdad, gun battles between Iraqi forces and militiamen of the Mahdi Army loyal to the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr left at least 34 people dead and about 70 wounded, Iraqi officials said.The fighting broke out late last night when Iraqi soldiers conducted raids in three neighbourhoods to flush out the militiamen and seize weapons, Captain Fatik Aied, of the Iraqi army, said. The fighting continued today....http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1859979,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

British forces suffered their 14th combat death in Afghanistan yesterday as commanders admitted that intense fighting against the Taliban meant they were using up missiles, rockets and spares at an alarming rate.The vital Apache attack helicopters have been particularly hard hit with a senior Army source claiming that stocks of weapons and components meant to last until April next year could be used up "well before Christmas". British combat troops are so few on the ground in Helmand province - effectively one battalion, 500-600 fighting troops, to cover an area the size of Scotland - that they are having to call in air strikes by American B1 bombers and other aircraft on a daily basis.The eight Apaches in Helmand are operating at full stretch, answering calls for help from British patrols and small outlying garrisons. ...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/28/wtaliban28.xml

Three people died and dozens more were injured in a blast in Turkey's Mediterranean city Antalya on Monday, the fifth bomb to hit the country in less than 24 hours. Two witnesses told Reuters by telephone from Antalya they heard a loud explosion, which broke windows, shattered glass, and sparked a fire at a shopping area in the center of the city, one of Turkey's most popular tourist destinations."A parked motorbike next to a tramway had exploded and pieces of the motorbike were shattered all around. A man who was a street vendor was then dead," said a shaken local businessman, who declined to be named.Local police said two people were killed in the attack and many more were injured, with one policeman saying up to 50 may have been hurt. Shortly afterwards private broadcaster NTV reported a third person had died at hospital from injuries....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060828/ts_nm/security_turkey_explosions_dc

The leader of a Democratic Republic of Congo militia has become the first war crimes suspect to be charged at the International Criminal Court. Thomas Lubanga, who led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia group based in eastern DR Congo, is accused of recruiting child soldiers. International human rights groups argue that charges of murder, torture and rape should be brought against him. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other international watchdog bodies welcomed the charges, but said they did not go far enough. "Enlisting, conscripting and using children as soldiers in armed conflict are serious crimes that should be condemned and appropriately punished. However, much more is needed," HRW said in a statement addressed to the International Criminal Court last month. The ICC was set up in 2002 to deal with war crimes and genocide worldwide. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5293094.stm